Perhaps few people really care, as the sports news "highlights" invariably feature not so much the race itself, but the crashes!

Paul Dana's death should properly prompt scaling back coverage of this spectacle and expanding coverage such as golf and tennis.

As was so in my recent letter on smoking, my frankness is well-intentioned. My father -- a regular smoker -- died painfully of emphysema. A nephew was disfigured in an auto accident where speeding was an issue. No one should suffer so!

If it takes criticism to help others recognize the potential consequences of their actions, then candor is beneficial and vindicated.

<p>To The Editor: Madison Avenue's advertising gurus have demonstrated conclusively that if you show something on TV regularly, the public will buy into it.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>Thus those who rail against smut and gratuitous violence on TV are justified in their concern about its insidious influence, especially on the young.</p><p>Why no similar concern about televising NASCAR races? They involve speed and driving perilously close to the car in front, exactly the sort of driving which doesn't belong on our highways.</p><p>Given TV's acknowledged influence, it necessarily follows that viewing auto races may prompt such dangerous driving habits.</p><p>Perhaps few people really care, as the sports news "highlights" invariably feature not so much the race itself, but the crashes!</p><p>Paul Dana's death should properly prompt scaling back coverage of this spectacle and expanding coverage such as golf and tennis.</p><p>As was so in my recent letter on smoking, my frankness is well-intentioned. My father -- a regular smoker -- died painfully of emphysema. A nephew was disfigured in an auto accident where speeding was an issue. No one should suffer so!</p><p>If it takes criticism to help others recognize the potential consequences of their actions, then candor is beneficial and vindicated.</p><p>Victor Urbaitis</p><p>Hendersonville</p>